What do you usually upgrade first - cartridge or phono stage ?

I had a Goldring E3 mounted on a Rega P2 and was using a very decent phono stage built in with Rogue RP1.  Sounded great. Then I tried the Mcintosh MP100 phono stage I borrowed from my buddy and my jaw dropped. I paid $100 for that Goldring. It sounded insanely good. I had to return the MP100 and continued using the built in phono. Later on I stepped up to Hana EH cartridge and while the upgrade was very audible, it was nowhere near the level of improvement brought by the upgraded phono stage. 

@inna 

dwette, could you post what you upgraded to what ? And what turntable/tonearms do you have

1. Clearaudio Ovation/Universal with DV XV-1s and Naim Superline phono: upgraded to Lyra Atlas cart
2. Upgraded to Clearaudio Innovation TT with two 12" Universal arms, added Lyra Atlas Mono
3. 18 months later, upgraded Superline to Boulder 1108
4. I have since upgraded Innovation to Master Innovation, and added 3rd Tracer arm with my previous DV XV-1s

"Let's assume already pretty high level of both."

Alignment Tools and Skills: acquire the few inexpensive tools and learn to do it yourself.

Go beyond: Think long, think about options, flexibility, it took me over 40 years, retirement, and rethinking everything during covid, and a lot of help here for this.

The great unknown, who knew my friend would leave me his collection of over 4,000 LPs, mostly Jazz, many played only once.

Stereo/Mono/MM/LOMC/MI, I'm a big fan of two tonearms, Stereo and Mono aligned, calibrated ready to play in an instant, combined with a small collection of cartridges pre-mounted in headshells with azimuth adjustment, and easy adjustable arm height.

If you have one darn good cartridge, with an advanced stylus shape, even on basic aluminum, it is good enough to find and settle on a MM Phono stage. Get that DONE.

to me, my Tube MM Phono is done for life, as is my SUT, to pre-boost LOMC so I can keep using it.

I have added other new cartridges, taken risks with used Vintage otherwise unobtainable cantilever materials, and enjoy listening to friend's cartridges they bring here.

We all have Steve and Ray Leung at VAS and Peter at Soundsmith to expand the possibilities, including purposely buying broken cartridges.

this 3 lp set contains mostly Stereo, however side one, the 1st 3 tracks are Mono from 1939 and 1956, I play them with my left Mono arm, SUT input C, then I switch to either of my two Stereo arms for track 4 and all of discs 2 and 3

https://www.discogs.com/release/2003328-Various-The-Bass

There is a lot of Bob Thiele and Rudy Van Gelder here

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Late invite, I snatched a few LPs from downstairs to give to a friend for a birthday present, selected the artists, but failed to notice, they were Mono LPs. He has heard the difference here, so now he is on the hunt for a Mono Cartridge.  

If you are playing Mono LPs with a Stereo Cartridge, Mono MODE, that's what I did for most of my life, until I decided to trust what I read here, and tried True Mono. I am so glad I tried, it's not night and day different, but there is a substantial elimination of noise potential from any vertical movement, surface scuffs,.... and an increase in distinction of individual instruments, voices, the improvement varies from a little to a whole lot.

I trusted, trust me, my 1st Mono, Grado Mono ME+, only $185, elliptical on aluminum is a winner. Replaceable stylus $100. Tracks at only 1.5 gm

https://gradolabs.com/products/grado-prestige-mono-phono-cartridge-model-me

I have never heard a Cartridge create the same impression that a Phonostage can. Cartridges are having their full potential removed when not replayed through a carefully  thought out circuitry.